Toughest Supply-Chain Issues: Are you up for the challenge?

Location of TFI Think Tank on Supply Chain, Oct. 9, 2012

If you could spend a day hashing out five tough supply-chain issues with executive at OEMs, manufacturing suppliers, and material suppliers, which issues would you choose? Thirty electronics-industry executives are gathering as a Think Tank October 9th in Silicon Valley to find solutions to problems that require cross-supply-chain creativity and cooperation.

They are now voting for five strategic issues to tackle from among the following ten:
1. Supply and Demand: Smoothing Gaps, Finding Solutions
2. EMS vs. ODM Strategies: Design Resources and Ownership
3. Supply Chain Control: Counterfeit? Danger to Workers? Hazards for Environment?
4. Regulations or Competition: Race for responsible designs & supply chains
5. Regional Manufacturing Strategies: Low Labor Rates and/or Customer Proximity
6. Faster, Cheaper, Better ― Quick Turn, Low Cost, High Quality, Responsible
7. Technology Innovations Needed (Even if disruptive of current practices)
8. Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
9. Greater Efficiencies / Lower Costs
10. Supply Constraints & Price Hikes: Oil Prices, Rare Earth Shortages, and More

Why only 30 executives? In April 2012, I attended a speech by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He spoke of the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009, which comprised leaders of 170 countries. Not much progress was being made, he explained, until a subgroup of 30 country leaders met together and most effectively ironed out solutions. Likewise we at TFI feel that 30 is the right number - one executive each from 10 OEMs, 10 EMS/ODMs, and 10 Suppliers - to bring forward a range of ideas and to start to narrow them down to those that are most likely to truly solve problems for the long run across the industry.

At the end of each session during the day-long event, EMSNow Publisher Philip Stoten will encapsulate the Think Tank’s proposed solutions in a short video.

In your view, which of the above 10 issues are so important that the industry’s future hinges on whether we (1) act strategically and courageously, or (2) be mired in short-term tactics and fear of change?

Is there a VP-or-more-senior executive at your company, your suppliers, or customers whom you believe needs to be at the table to contribute ideas, and collaboratively choose among potential paths? Is this executive strategic enough to dedicate a full day, and courageous enough to be up for the challenge? Are you? Let us know.